Monday, January 30, 2012

The Hindu : Life & Style / Metroplus : The gift of Magi

P.Mahendiran rescues the mentally-challenged from the streets and reunites them with their families

We drive past him every day. But who cares about the skeletal man in rags lying by the ditch? P.Mahendiran does. Mahendiran, also known as Magi, sits next to the man and strikes up a conversation. He cleans him up, gets him something to eat and takes him to a rehabilitation home. He wouldn't stop with that. He would also try to locate the man's family and reunite them.

Since 2009, Magi has reunited 11 mentally-disturbed people with their families — one of them is even getting married this year. The soft-spoken Mahendiran wishes there were no orphanages in the world. “If there are ailing elders or mentally-ill members in our family, we should take the responsibility of taking care of them,” he says. “Coimbatore has a lot of kind-hearted doctors who are willing to treat the mentally-unstable for a minimal fee.”

Along with his friends Thaba Suraj, Mohanasundaram, Shenbagam, Parimalam, Balachandran and Palaniappan, the 35-year-old has changed the lives of many. He shares some of his success stories.

Palani alias Pattan

Palani must've been in his mid-30s. He was found wandering in the grounds near a college. Some students called me for assistance. When I first saw him, his hair was matted, and he was covered in dirt. We gave him a hair-cut and bathed him — he looked like a maappilai! He was in a disturbed state of mind. All we gathered was that he was from a village called Nambiyur and that his father was a dealer of groundnuts. We set out to trace his family.

We spent an entire day in the village, asking everyone, “Do you know Palani?” but to no avail. It then struck us. Palani kept mumbling ‘Pattan, Pattan'. Was that his nickname? Fingers crossed, we asked a villager, “Do you know Pattan?” He led us to an old man. We were shocked to see him — he was a spitting image of our Palani! He believed his son was dead. We convinced him otherwise and brought him to Coimbatore. The minute he saw Palani, the old man didn't say a word. But his eyes filled with tears as he held Palani close.

Avanashi paati

She was a familiar face in the area. She slept on the platform and lived on tea and buns bought by kind-hearted passers-by. I saw her when I was travelling in a bus via Avanashi. I found out that she had a sister in Erode and took her there. I told her that all what paati needed was a bed and some food. She agreed to take her in after a little coaxing. It's been a month since I left paati there — she's happy now.

Shanmugam thatha

It was my four-year-old daughter who first noticed him lying near a gutter in Ganapathy. Shanmugam thatha was in a very bad shape. I took him to a rehabilitation home. All he would mutter was ‘Kallarai veedhi'. I asked around and found that it was in Sowripalayam. I clicked a photo of Shanmugam thatha and headed there.

I went door-to-door showing people the photograph. At last, a lady recognised him — she was his daughter-in-law. She said that he had been missing for days. We thus reunited Shanmugam thatha with his family.

Asokan

I met Asokan during a routine visit to Anbalayam. He mentioned he was from a village near Mannargudi. With the help of friends, I traced his brother's phone number. He said Asokan had been missing for 18 years. Assuming he was dead, they had even planned to apply for a death certificate for him. He was surprised to hear that his brother was still alive. Asokan is now with his family — he is getting married.